This week I am working on the Winter Village quilt kit I bought on sale last year. It was a good deal, as it included all the fabrics and the appliqué cut-outs. The houses went together fairly quickly, although cutting the pieces often took longer than sewing them together. The appliqués are pre-cut and have adhesive on them. It is sticky enough to adhere to the top before ironing it on, which is nice as there are a lot of branches and pieces. The machine stitching part is tedious, a small zig zag, and happily I finished the snowflakes yesterday. I am using non-stick needles as the glue is building up, I also noticed that there is a residue on the bottom of my presser foot. I have been wiping the two periodically, stitches look good though. I would like to finish this today, the two borders are cut and I get extra credit for cutting and ironing the binding. Maybe I can get it on the long arm once I finish the Peacock quilt.

The Peacock quilt was started yesterday, I had gotten it on the frame Thursday, but needed to make a pieced batting for it so it was delayed a day or so. As I started advancing it, I realized that I had put the top on upside down, luckily the panto isn’t up/down directional, just left-right. As I advanced the rows, I saw that my backing was too short, some swearing ensued. I had pieced the backing a few months ago, and didn’t re-measure it before mounting it, because I never make mistakes in measuring . Well, it’s about ten inches too short, and I don’t have any more of the backing used. I “found” a purple print that is going to work. Now I am hoping to keep the quilt attached to the top leader and sew the extra piece on with my small sewing machine. I am thinking I can put the machine on the back of the frame’s table and stitch the pieces together. It will be awkward, but if I don’t have to re-mount the quilt, it will be easier to line up that last row of quilting.

Happily the new lighting system is working out well, I can really see what I am doing. No more “bring the sew head over to provide light” on the quilt. It will be very helpful when I do more design placement and ruler work. Plus I will be able to see appliqué edges easier for stitching around them.

I have been stitching on the Fabulous Houses – Haunted house this week. I would like to finish this whole project soon. It’s been a long year of monogamy, so many other project temptations ignored. I don’t think I will do another giant piece like this for a long while. I will finish up the Consider the Lillies after this is done and then I will try not to be tempted by anything larger than 8″ x 10″. I have already sworn off samplers, especially ones with big red houses. I did buy a pattern for a new baby sampler, but it doesn’t have a house. Maybe my enthusiasm for cross stitch is waning again, it has been five years of stitching since a twenty year hiatus.

The de-cluttering of the sewing room has finished. I made a dent, and lost the mojo when I started sorting fabric drawers. I did get through my large pieces drawers (fabric pieces over two yards) and for extra credit, I marked their sizes on them. Plus I separated specialty fabrics from the quilting cottons. When I got to my main fabric stash drawers, I was done. These drawers of fabrics need to be taken out and re-folded and organized. I’ll revisit in a six months or so.

Be Kind.